On human rights

Concern No. 3: On human rights

Contemporary imperialist aggression has taken on the face of “globalization” and “war on terror.” It is an excuse for U.S. imperialism and its allies to plunder more lands, resources and to exploit and oppress more peoples in the guise of free trade, investments and democracy.

The so-called fight against terrorism has been used and abused by imperialist countries as a tool for aggression. The US-led “war against terror” as illustrated in Iraq and other countries has deliberately blurred national borders as well as lines that distinguish civilians from combatants.

Civilian victims of imperialist wars of aggression have been labeled as “collateral damage,” which in reality reveals the treatment of peoples as obstacles to be eliminated. Revolutionary, anti-imperialist and national liberation movements on the other hand are labeled as “terrorists” because the objective of this global war of terror is to eliminate every resistance to US hegemony and other forms of imperialist aggression.

The United States, either unilaterally or with the collaboration of its allies, has invaded Iraq and Afghanistan under the cloak of “liberation and democracy” to capture and control valuable resources such as oil and to achieve its strategic imperialist goals.

Reactionary governments, most often installed or supported by imperialism, conspire with their imperialist masters in using vicious methods, both subtle and overt like “development” and military aid, to dominate the world and heap suffering on people’s lives and human rights.

These methods also include the use of the law and the coercive state powers as an instrument of repression by the ruling class against those who get in the way of unbridled imperialist greed.

It is, therefore, with more reason that oppressed peoples and nations of the world defend and fight for their rights, strengthen the struggle, unite and build a new world against imperialist aggression, state terrorism, plunder and social destruction. It is a fundamental right that cannot be denied or deprived peoples desiring to be free from all forms of exploitation.

Everywhere in the world, the dispossessed and exploited peoples have been transformed from being victims to defenders and they have responded to oppression with resistance.

The hundreds of thousands of people from different nationalities and ethnic groups in Turkey are rising up to denounce tyranny—from condemning the killing of Armenian progressive journalist Hrant Dink to defying fascist attacks against the Kurdish nation.

In the Philippines, the basic masses, together with all progressive and democratic classes and sectors in society wage the battle against the U.S.-Arroyo regime, through all forms of struggle.

In Pakistan, the movement for the independence of the judiciary led by the lawyers and other political parties and sectoral groups started a vibrant struggle against the Musharraf regime which continues to this day.

In imperialist countries like Italy, there is mounting organized resistance against attacks on democratic freedoms that the Italian people won with the war of Resistance against Nazi-fascism. The resistance continues to build against the new government, including fascist and racist forces, carrying out attacks against the native and immigrant popular masses.

Resistance is the defense of our lives, liberties and land. Resistance is destroying the old and building the new.

We must resolve to establish democratic governments, break free from foreign domination, change exploitative economic systems and pursue the path to genuine development for all, free from foreign interference.

We – the ILPS Commission on Human Rights in the civil, political, economic, social and cultural fields against state violence, national oppression, class exploitation and oppression, gender oppression, fascism, casteism, racism and religious bigotry – recognizing the urgent need to consolidate and ensure that this Commission is active and contribute in the ILPS mission to challenge imperialism and all reaction in an international scale, resolve to:

• Monitor, document and expose in the international community the gross violations of human rights resulting from the US-led ‘war on terror’ and its localized versions in the various countries.

• Compel legal institutions of states to account for their human rights violations — investigate, prosecute, penalize or hold accountable the perpetrators and make indemnification, compensation, restitution and rehabilitation for the victims.

• Campaign for the junking of security/”anti-terror” laws imposed by the US and its puppet states in the name of ‘war on terror’ that grossly trample on fundamental rights and liberties.

• Sustain and intensify international campaigns to demand immediate and unconditional freedom for all political prisoners.

• Pursue the campaign for the de-listing of liberation groups and movements and progressive leaders like ILPS Chairperson Jose Maria Sison from the “terrorist” lists instigated or at the behest of the US government,

• Expose and oppose military aid from imperialist countries and their allies (e.g. USA, Australia, European Union, Canada) to countries who are resisting US imperialism and its puppet reactionaries (e.g. Philippines, Pakistan, Turkey).

• Support initiatives of lawyers to participate in resistance movements developing in many countries and encourage them and other groups in other countries to also organize, strengthening resistance to imperialists’ use of law against the people.

• Launch internationally-coordinated protest actions to denounce and demand an end to fascist rule, imperialist wars and plunder.

• Support national, regional and global struggles against fascism and militarization by projecting ILPS action alerts on outstanding cases of human rights violations.

• Initiate efforts in building an international network of organizations that will undertake work such as documentation, monitoring, international fact-finding missions and immediate assistance to the victims.

• Actively propagate the ILPS general declaration and specific calls/actions on the human rights agenda in all relevant international, sub-regional, regional, national and local campaign networks.

• Further develop and strengthen international cooperation and regional solidarity for the defense of people’s democratic rights.